Jingga Pool in Dhawaral National Park is a beautiful pool along O’Hares Creek, which has been described as “one of Sydney’s best wild swimming spots”. A small waterfall drops into the pool and it’s deep enough to swim (or to jump in from the rock ledge). The word “jingga” is said to mean “nice and sweet” in the Dharawal language, but the word doesn’t appear in any Dhwaral dictionary so someone may have made this up.
It can get fairly busy on a weekend, although there’s plenty of space around the pool, and lots of shade. Unfortunately Jingga Pool does tend to attract the kind of people who feel that bringing their portable music player into the bush is a good idea…
Above the natural waterfall is a concrete weir, which was once used to gauge the water flow in O’Hares Creek.
Despite being fairly close to Sydney, O’Hares Creek has some of the cleanest water in the Georges River Catchment (O’Hares Creek is part of Sydney Water’s declared Special Area, but has not been used for drinking water supply.)
Jingga Pool can be used as the exit point point for some off-track walks along O’Hares Creek; you can access the creek via the 10D Trail (upstream) or from the Victoria Road Trail (downstream) and finish here.
Getting to Jingga Pool
A well-used and signposted firetrail from the end of Victoria Road in Wedderburn provides access to Jingga Pool. It’s about 15km (20min) from the Campbelltown exit on the Hume Highway, and about an hour south-west of Sydney.
From the carpark it’s about 1.5km (one-way) to the swimming hole, with one fairly steep section. The top of the Jingga Pool Waterfall is easily accessed via the walking track… as is the base of the falls, if you’re prepared to go for a swim!
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